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Legion launches letter-writing campaign for veterans’ burial benefits

According to a briefing note prepared for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, the federal government planned to review the files of Egyptian nationals granted refugee status over their membership in the previously outlawed group, Muslim Brotherhood, "in light of the Arab spring."Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — The Conservative government found its record on helping veterans under fire after the Royal Canadian Legion launched a national letter-writing campaign Thursday demanding more financial support for burying those who have served in uniform.

The government currently provides a $3,600 funeral stipend for veterans of the Second World War and Korean War, as well as soldiers who have received a veterans’ disability pension.

But the legion wants its 330,000 members as well as members of the public to write to their local members of Parliament and request an increase in that amount, which has remained unchanged since 2001.

They also want the program expanded so as to include all low-income Canadian Forces veterans, and they want an increase in the $12,000 threshold that determines whether surviving spouses are reimbursed. That threshold was reduced from $24,000 by the Chretien government in 1995.

A spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney said the government is already extremely charitable.

“While all of our programs are under constant review as we look for ways to improve them through a challenging fiscal climate, Canada’s funeral and burial program is one of the most comprehensive among allied nations and is the only program to cover full burial costs,” Jean-Christophe de le Rue said in an email.

“Since our government took office, the families of approximately 10,000 veterans have benefitted from the funerals and burials program.”

But the Canadian Press reported last fall that 20,147 applications submitted by the families of poor soldiers who passed away had been rejected, representing about two-thirds of the requests received since 2006.

The legion also says it has asked successive federal governments to change different aspects of the funeral and burial benefits since 2004 — without success.

Liberal MP Judy Foote criticized the Conservative government in the House of Commons Thursday over its refusal to act.

“A funeral can cost as much as $13,000, yet Veterans Affairs provides only $3,600 through the Last Post Fund to bury low income soldiers if they meet the outdated eligibility requirements,” she said.

“Our veterans deserve to be buried with dignity. Will the government do the right thing and increase the amount available for the funerals of our veterans?”

Blaney defended the government’s record.

“Unlike the Liberals who cut this very program, we have brought benefits and programs to veterans at an unprecedented level over the last seven years under the leadership of our prime minister,” he said.